16/02/2014 Spotlight

and Tudor Evans, the leader of Plymouth City Council.

Good evening. The high capacity Plymouth City Counci Good

Good evening. The high capacity Dutch pumps on the flooded Somerset

Levels have had to be turned off because of damage to the riverbank.

The pumps had already moved a million tonnes of water. Engineers

are now looking at ways of stabilising the bank. Meanwhile, for

many people who live in the Somerset Levels there is still no end in

sight to the flooding. Sedgemoor District Council opened a rest

centre in Bridgwater two weeks ago, offering families food, showers and

somewhere to take stock and plan. A man whose house is now waist high in

water who used the rest centre on the first day it opened returned

today to say thank you. He has spoken of how grateful he is for its

work and talked emotionally about the day he had to leave his home.

From the time we walked in, they were so caring, they looked after

us. We were the first ones to get here in the morning. Absolutely

wonderful, without them we had nowhere to go. The photographs of

when we got married, our honeymoon, the things that my wife's family

gave her that's come down through families, it's all gone. How can you

replace that. I anticipate we won't get back for at least a year.

Elsewhere and train services have resumed this afternoon on the main

line in Cornwall. The line between Plymouth and west Cornwall was

closed on Friday due to storm damage. On the main line at Dawlish

meanwhile, engineers are still assessing the damage caused by

Friday night's storm. Network Rail remains hopeful it won't

significantly delay repairs. Part of a Dorset beach has been cordoned off

following a large cliff fall. The landslip on East Cliff Beach at West

Bay happened at yesterday afternoon. The emergency services are warning

people to stay away from the cliffs. Wildlife rescuers say hundreds of

dead and oiled birds are washing up along the south west coast following

the recent storms. It's reported that more than 20 dead puffins,

guillemots and razor bills were found on the beach at Thurlstone

yesterday. Many other oiled and storm blown birds are being cared

for at the South Devon Seabird Trust in Teignmouth. There will be several

hundred birds that have been affected by this. We have had nearly

50 now and other people that we know have picked up a similar number. But

it's the dead ones, they're washing up dead in their hundreds all along

the coast. Volunteers across Cornwall have taken advantage of

today's calmer weather to clear litter from some of its most popular

beaches. With many visitors expected for the half term break, Cornwall

Council is keen to ensure the county is looking its best despite the

storm damage. Spotlight's Chloe Axford reports. Be careful because

there's bits of sharp glass. Carl and his three children are among

dozens of families who have turned out on Fistral Beach to help pick up

litter which has been left by the storm. Carl, who runs educational

safaris on the beach says keeping it clean is vital. I run a local

business, I actually run businesses where we teach children about this

environment and local schools come down. So it is important for me to

make sure that everyone knows Cornwall is open, we are OK, come

down and enjoy this beautiful environment with us. In just a short

space of time, lots of rubbish has been collected. Large bits of

plastic. Even a bit of old tyre here. You can just see, if you put

it on the sand it just doesn't belong. The beach clean has been

organised by Volunteer Cornwall in conjunction with Cornwall Council.

Following the storms that we have had the beaches were in a bit of a

state and we thought back to the aftermath of the riots in Tottenham

and people taking to the streets with their brushes and broom to

clear up and this is really the Cornish version of that. So this is

us taking to the beaches with our bin bags and gloves to pick up all

the litter that the storm has washed up. This is one of ten beach cleans

taking place across Cornwall. The council is keen to convince

potential holiday makers that the beach is still a great place to

come, despite the recent stormy weather. Fortunately for them today

the sun is shining. Sadly, the sunshine isn't expected to last, but

people here are keen to ensure that nobody is put off coming to see this

beautiful spot for themselves. A ceremony has been held at St Agnes

in Cornwall to bless the scattering of a quarter of a million poppy

seeds to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World

War One. Organiser George Mannell, whose own father suffered shell

shock during the war, says the flowers are a chance for local

people to remember the sacrifices made. Well, I like to think that the

village has taken part in it, you know? It is a hundred years, so it

is up to us to do something about it. That is how I feel. The

community do a bit to thank those who died for us. Onto the weather

now, and here's Holly. Hello there, we saw some beautiful blue skies

today, but tonight things are going down hill. We have got rain pushing

in and we have a Met Office yellow warning for that rain. We could see

20 millimetres or so falling tonight and tomorrow, elevating the flooding

risk once again. So a few showers around initially, they replaced by

outbreaks of rain during the night. The winds will pick up at times as

well. Lows in the region of five to seven degrees. So we start tomorrow

with outbreaks of rain from the word go. And they will continue on and

off through the bulk of day. We could see coastal gales as well, but

those winds not comparable with the winds we have been seeing over

recent days. Thereafter, Tuesday and Wednesday bring bright spells and

showers, but Wednesday night and Thursday turn wet and windy. That is

all for now. I'm back at the later than normal time of 20 past 11.

Bye`bye for now. Until then, have a very good

evening. Whilst we are talking about wet and

windy weather in the